Juganu

Market position

Juganu operates in smart-city lighting and connectivity alongside vendors named in comparisons such as Siemens, and in UV disinfection equipment, where sources note roughly 30 companies active, including Xenex of San Antonio, Texas. Investors and commercial partners from the telecom and semiconductor industries — Comcast Ventures, Amdocs and Qualcomm — are associated with the company.

The company differentiates on using the existing lighting grid as the deployment vehicle, which it says cuts capital expenditure to about a tenth of prior approaches, on wireless high-bandwidth data transport through luminaires (which it says also reduces handset radiation by connecting users to a nearby light rather than a distant antenna), on early adoption of lighting command and control, and on a usage-based commercial model. For disinfection, its distinguishing feature is the combination of UVA, UVC and standard lighting in one circadian-tuned fixture rather than a standalone disinfection device.

Technology

Proprietary LED luminaires combined with wireless broadband connectivity, cameras and sensors, artificial intelligence and edge processing. The company developed technology to transfer large volumes of data wirelessly across the lighting grid, alongside full remote control and adjustment of the lights themselves for energy efficiency and lighting stability. Video analytics applications include facial recognition, license plate recognition, suspect tracking and hazard/distress detection. The J.Protect line uses a blend of UVA, UVC and conventional light to inactivate viruses and bacteria on surfaces, in air and in liquids, while providing circadian-tuned illumination; UVC exposure limits mean shadowed surfaces are not treated and direct human exposure must be avoided. Company products have appeared in FCC equipment filings under JUGANU Ltd., including JNET2-OD, PHOENIX1 and JPROTECT JPP.

Go-to-market

Direct deployment with municipal, government and commercial customers, complemented by distribution partnerships: the company said it was working with Comcast, Qualcomm and NCR Corp to distribute the J.Protect system in the United States. It began selling the tunable pathogen-disinfection lighting system in the US in late 2020.

Municipalities and cities, government and law-enforcement agencies such as Brazil's Federal Police, international retail chains, shopping malls, campuses, indoor farms, and indoor commercial venues including hospitals, restaurants and offices.

Geography

Headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel. Installations reported in several Israeli cities including Jerusalem, along the Brazil–Paraguay border, and commercial deployments in Chile, India and Israel, with US sales of the J.Protect system beginning in 2020.

History

Established in 2011 around combined lighting control and wireless connectivity, the company built out smart-city deployments in Israel and Latin America, including a border-security system for Brazil's Federal Police. In April 2020 it raised $18 million in a round led by Comcast Ventures, bringing cumulative funding reported at the time to $41 million. In 2020 the founders extended the technology into pathogen disinfection with the J.Protect UVA/UVC circadian lighting system, launching US sales in October 2020 and formally announcing J.Protect in November 2020; reported total venture funding was cited as $53 million later that year.

Risks & controversies

The camera-based platform includes facial recognition, license plate recognition and suspect tracking, raising privacy considerations that the CEO addressed by stating the company aims to be responsible about privacy. The efficacy of the disinfection product is bounded: UVC inactivates pathogens only on directly exposed surfaces, air and liquids, leaving shadowed areas untreated; UVC is harmful to skin and eyes on direct exposure, so it is best suited to unoccupied spaces; and the system is described as an addition to, not a replacement for, other protective measures.